New Video, New Europe

A Survey of Eastern European Video January 11 – February 22, 2004

Sislej Xhafa(Kosovo)Stock Exchange, 20003' 50

In the midday hustle and bustle of the Ljubljana train station, Xhafa poses as a Wall Street trader. Undetered by the bemused or confused occassional passerby, Xhafa treats the station's itinerary placard as a stock index, urgently gesticulating with pen and paper, announcing the destinations as commodities, and the arrival and departure times as their ever volatile prices. Although simple, Xhafa's Fluxus-like performance reveals the complexity of globalization, namely that places do indeed have value. There are winners and losers in the migratory flow of commerce as one country might secure a coveted free trade agreement with the U.S. while another might experience a sharp drop in its Gross National Production as its factories relocate.

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